party in a box.

my main girl sophie will celebrate her first birthday soon.

as resident party planner of the family, i can't help but jump in from 250 miles away. 

it all started with this party inspiration i spied on oh happy day {originally seen on cake}.

how sweet! how simple!

i saw it and i thought, that whole situation can be bundled up and shipped off in a box, can't it?

the banner.

the garland.

coordinating invitations {that i'll create in powerpoint, of course}.

a mini cake stand for the mini birthday girl.

and cake toppers for everyone.

and then came a request to tailor it to something she loves: monkeys.

so i'm going to monkify it.

it might not be literal. i'm wrapping my head around lil' monkeys hanging from garland

cranking my brain away at how i can make it happen.

but it will be brown {kraft paper?} and yellow {bananas, duh.} and then i'll pack it up in a box and send it north and it will the cutest thing sophie's laid eyes on all year long.

i think this is the last life event requiring a shower for anyone i know.

i threw a party for my very pregnant best friend.

and in case anyone's wondering, even though it's been seen a thousand times before here on the blog, the top she's wearing isn't mine.

heavens NO she's not wearing my clothes in her 7th month of pregnancy!

just to be clear.

we're best friends, so we shop at the j.crew outlet together.

our closets are twins.

her eyes are closed, but it's the only one we've got from the day... just you wait.

there was food. but just sweet food. colorful food. donuts, donut holes, cupcakes, and cakes.  chocolate cakes in the round and sheet style, strawberry cakes, and vanilla cakes. vanilla cakes made red, purple, green and yellow.  i told you it was colorful. and there was definitely a lot of sprinkles.

there were presents. lots of presents. all you people have incredible taste.

those chevron drapes make me want to drool.

there were a bazillion friends and family. parkers. platts. ward friends. and old friends. seriously, when did bestie jen become so popular? she's fresh from jail one day, bountiful's best friend the next. 

once we get all those sweet miniature clothes on their miniature hangers, the baby can come. 

JEN: DON'T HANG UP THOSE CLOTHES UNTIL AFTER MY BIRTHDAY.

holy smokes!

i looked over my calendar yesterday afternoon and realized it was october 16.... just a month shy of november 16. i must have counted backwards and forwards every which way to make sure i really, really was a month away from my 30th birthday.

you guys, i don't knowwwww why the fascination.

i was never denied a birthday party as a child...

it wasn't glanced over or skipped without thought.

my mom always made sure to out-do the other mom's when it came to classroom treats

{see where i get it? we had dark chocolate dipped frozen bananas with sprinkles and nuts in kindergarten.  FOR MY FIFTH BIRTHDAY.}

but i swear, 21 rolled around and my birthday was, like, larger than life. 

i have no idea where that came from.

i counted and counted... and arrived at 31 each time.

that gave me one day to stew over what my "30 to 30" project would be. 

i even announced it at sunday dinner.

i should really just keep my lips zipped to avoid making a fool of myself... i'm sure they were all snickering inside... 

because apparently............... the 30 to 30 project was already brewing in someone else's head.

only to be figured out by the buzz, buzz, buzz of my phone in monday morning meetings. 

comments on the post "hijacked"? what the?

i'm secretly relieved.

because it's 11:14 p.m. and i've been working all day.

not an ounce of time so far to think about what i could do for my own "30 to 30" countdown.

without knowing what's coming at me {and you} over the next month, i'm already blushed and grateful for such good people i'm surrounded by. 

i mean, i think so anyway. i really have no idea.

this is like exposure therapy on that obsessive-compulsive reality tv show where they put you face to face with your big, scary monster fear and make you stew in it.... until your fear factor is like a 5 out of 10 instead of a 10. 

and right now, i'm sitting at like, a 12.8 out of 10.

eeeeeeek!

so i'll go on posting..... sweet things.

like this crown ring.  heaven help me, i want this ring!

and this picture of me + holly from jen's shower on saturday. this is probably the first time holly + have been seen together on film in 7 years. that's not an exaggeration. can you imagine us as sophomores in high school?  we haven't aged one bit since 1996, no sir.

 

and a full spread of photos from jen's shower on saturday. 

listen here, people love that girl. and her baby.

so thank you friends. 

i think.

i'm as anxious as anyone to see what comes next on the blog.

friday-ness.

i like it when all my hair fits in a hair tie, the first time, perfectly. it feels so good.

i'm a cake plate collector these days.

and by this time tomorrow, all the delicious cakes i've got sitting pretty on those plates will be licked clean.

 

i'm on a mission to put my laundry away.

something that happens only as often as the women's and children's sale at nordstrom.

the first order of business is a major, major, MAJOR plucking of the things i don't wear.

we're talking a heartless, you've-done-me-wrong, i'm-breaking-up-with-you, you're-no-good-for-me  closet cleansing.

so far, so good.

just wait until i get to the cardigans y'all.

and the shoes!

i came across this jackpot of baker's twine at the restaurant supply store the other day.

i think an old lady had to pick me up off the floor after i passed out at the sight of all that beauty in one spot.

i somehow walked away with $28 worth of string.

 

i carried all these groceries in the house in one load.

deceiving, but:

10 lb bag of flour

10 lb of sugar

4 - 1 lb bags of powdered sugar

1 gallon of milk

6 lbs apples

shampoo and conditioner

and the newest people mag

... among other things.

not only did i get them in, but i closed the trunk, shut the garage door, opened the door to the house and got them onto the kitchen table. it barely happened.

but i will not take two trips.

 

if i see you tomorrow, please don't mention the bags under my eyes. i probably won't sleep tonight.

you'd think i was planning a party or something...

otherwise known as: 

the reason i haven't blogged about my fab vacation yet.

or

fuzz balls and yarn scraps all over the house.

or

i had an intimate afternoon with orson gygi today. 

you know, explored every inch of him, picked my favorite parts, and in the end, we'll celebrate a baby. 

every square inch of my house is covered in baby shower-ness.

but tomorrow, the mess grows ten fold... 

tomorrow, i start in the kitchen!

curse the genes i inherited from rebecca that requires everything be handmade, perfect., and more delicious than yours.

friday-ness.

i never do.... but this morning i had a wild hair for a warm drink. so i hit starbucks for a caramel apple spice. as i pulled into my office, i caught myself in a very gen y moment: swiping the key card to the parking garage, pushing the clicker lock button on my key chain as i walked toward the elevator, grande in hand, along with the netflix that needed to go back in the mail.

i love gen y and i love the 21st century.

 

another "oh that looks easy" project i found through blog-dom... misleading as always.

why does everything look so simple on the internet?!

i saw this... was inspired to make something of the like for bestie jen's baby shower... then sat down and spun pipe cleaners and yarn. for four hours. 

do you think the shower guests will get it if i don't finish the other half? 

sweet.... baby? potato? cheeks? tarts? 

you get it. 

... i hope.

boss andy gave me a dozen peaches from his tree this week. i promptly went home and made the pioneer woman's recipe for cobbler.... the one i had just seen on the food network. she used berries... and just to be sure i wouldn't ruin it with another fruit {or that there wasn't a better recipe out there for the fruit on hand}, i asked her. with her blessing, i got to work in the kitchen.

it was gone by 9 a.m. thanks to a handful of ravenous engineers... followed by 15 cranky ones, upset i didn't make a bigger batch.

yesterday started out with bad news in a text message at 7:30 a.m. and two rocks in my windshield at 8 a.m. that spread like a spider web by 8:30 a.m.

the day was hopeless from there.

but today is a different day.

and tomorrow is florida day.

inspiration boarding.

yesterday i had to ask bestie jen how far along she was - as in "how many weeks pregnant are you?"

i don't keep track of that kind of stuff unless it's documented in a blog next to a piece of fruit or an ear of corn or a side profile photo carrying a mini chalkboard scratched with a sweet number scrolled upon it.

and bestie jen is neither the ear of corn girl nor the mini chalkboard kind.

my best friend is growing a girl baby and we talk about it 47 times a day... but i can't keep track of the days.

i should sign up for her "this week in your uterus" emails i know so many pregnant women sign up for so i can keep track.

most of our time is spent tackling the "fun" stuff - the nursery and the party.

fun = midnight text messages "i'm having second thoughts on the color of the paint for the closet doors.  talk me off my ledge tomorrow, will you?"

to which i reply "sure thing. we paint swatch on thursday.  until then... keep growing your ear of corn like you do so well."

my highest priority, though, is the shower.

it's going to be big, y'all.

besides being wildly popular and, like, everyone's favorite friend, my best friend married into the tightest knit family i've ever known.

so the party's not only going to be big as in 'awesome' but big as in 'if you're reading this, you're probably on the invite list'

and in true aubry style, i must out-do myself for my best friend's baby making celebration.

my mind's still cranking away with ideas and plans, but to keep up with the direction it's taking - follow my baby shower mood board on pinterest.  and then pray with me for ice cream eating weather in mid october.

not shown: the onsie making station. and the blingy pacifier chain station.

april fools, yeah right.

baby shower, at last.

two weeks later...

i processed the photos from bristyl's sweet baby shower.

i started babysitting bristyl when i was twelve and she was five.

i couldn't believe she was old enough to run off to college.

let alone get married.

and i fell on the floor with the happy dance when i found out she made a baby!

{how bizarre, how bizarre: i knew joy - bristyl's mom - as a pregnant mom to her three youngest kids. fast foward 17 years and we've got a pregnant bristyl on our hands!  a pretty pregnant, may i say.}

there's no one more fit for the duty as baby shower host than the lifetime babysitter.

i started planning a summer time, outside, under the trees baby shower as soon as i heard the news.  in january.

and this is what i came up with:

red. orange. peachy pink. yellow

dessert bar included:

creamy lemon bars

tarty rhubarb squares

berry fruit cups with creamy lemon curd

sugar cookies with buttercream frosting

dipped marshmallows

clementine, grapefruit + blackberry izze drinks

and sweet jenna created the invites. seriously, i owe her my life.

paper lanterns, leftover from bestie jen's wedding hung from the trees above the dessert bar and all the cousins decorated the surrounding trees branches with mini tissue paper pom poms. 

cupcakes in a jar as take home favors.

marshmallows + dipping chocolate + extreme sprinkles + pixi stix = i can't imagine a more sugarier combination of sugariness.  disgusting.  but they were pretty.  and they matched.

joy laughed at me after i turned down so many of her offers of help... "because that doesn't match"

i made sure the game playing pencils matched the napkins, which matched the ice bin, which matched the dessert trays {and the desserts!}, which matched the tissue paper hanging from the trees.

i couldn't help myself.

good friends + family gathered around on blankets + chairs to eat and laugh and lo-o-o-o-ve.

joy's going to be a grandma.... does she look like a grandma to you?  no.  not possible............

baby london will be well dressed, there is no arguing that.

and bristyl is well loved.... especially by ME!

now, i'm ready for that pretty baby to make her appearance!

sweet lulu.

i just discovered my new favorite party supply site.

shop sweet lulu.

because everyone's seen the barber shop striped straws by now... but polka dots?  i do not believe we have exhausted that party trend yet. thank goodness.

and 36" balloons make everyone happy...

and i knowwwwww there's something so ordinary about a berry basket.  like, we wouldn't give them a second thought if we saw them at the farmers market.  so utilitarian.  but at a party?  charm-a-rama.

and a supply of enough plates and cups and napkins to make your heart sing.

and a ton of cupcakery... a staple in party planning, it seems.

i can't decide what is more charming... the very sprinkles-esque forks knives + spoons?

or the sporks?  sporks!

what i DO know, for sure, is my upcoming season of baby shower hosting will kill you with an overdose of sweet + charm.

i told you i had party planning on the brain.

bhldn sent me an email this morning to annouce their new line of party supplies. 

i don't mean to throw the phrase party supplies around loosely here.... i'm not talking black plastic sheeting with purple accents proclaiming "over the hill"... i mean... bhldn caliber party decor.

in the last 20 minutes since posting about a yellow/coral/red garden party, i've changed my mind.

i have visions of a candle-lit, slightly glam indoor evening party with flicker and sparkle.  with hints of red.  but not .15 cent cardstock red.... like, golden gate bridge red.  the kind of red that you choose on purpose and not by default.

shoppe straws  |  mercury bottle

cake box  |  candle holders

cruet  |  plate

cupcake stand  |  l.o.v.e. garland

glass glitter  |  message ribbon

twine  |  paper chargers

i'll take one of everything, please.